March 19, 2024

PBL 360 – Unique Immersive Professional Development

PBL 360 Overview – Professional Development for Modern Educators

Gary S. Stager, Ph.D. and his team of expert educators travel the world to create immersive, high-quality professional development experiences for schools interested in effective 21st century project-based learning (PBL) and learning by doing. Whether your school (or school system) is new to PBL, the tools and technologies of the global Maker Movement, or looking to sustain existing programs, we can design flexible professional learning opportunities to meet your needs, PK-12.

Our work is based on extensive practice assisting educators on six continents, in a wide variety of grade levels, subject areas and settings. Dr. Stager has particular experience working with extremely gifted and severely at-risk learners, plus expertise in S.T.E.M. and the arts. The Victorian State of Victoria recently offered a highly successful three-day PBL 360 workshop for members of their “New Pedagogies Project.”

PBL 360 captures the spirit of the annual Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute in a local setting.

Options

Professional growth is ongoing, therefore professional development workshops need to be viewed as part of a continuum, not an inoculation. The PBL professional development workshops described below not only reflect educator’s specific needs, but are available in one, two or three-day events, supplemented by keynotes or community meetings, and may be followed-up with ongoing mentoring, consulting or online learning. Three days is recommended for greatest effect and capacity building.

While learning is interdisciplinary and not limited to age, we can tailor PD activities to emphasize specific subjects or grade levels.

These experiences embrace an expanding focus from learner, teacher, to transformational leader with a micro to systemic perspective. Video-based case studies, hands-on activities and brainstorming are all part of these highly interactive workshops.

Guiding principles

  • Effective professional development must be situated as close to the teacher’s actual practice as possible
  • You cannot teach in a manner never experienced as a learner
  • Access to expertise is critical in any learning environment
  • Practice is inseparable from theory
  • We stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from the wisdom of those who ventured before us
  • Modern knowledge construction requires computing
  • Learning and the learner should be the focus of any education initiative
  • Children are competent
  • School transformation is impossible if you only change one variable
  • Things need not be as they seem

PBL 360

Effective project-based learning requires more than the occasional classroom project, no matter how engaging such occasional activities might be. PBL 360 helps educators understand the powerful ideas behind project-based learning so they can implement PBL and transform the learning environment using digital technology and modern learning theory. PBL 360 helps teachers build a powerful, personal set of lenses and an ability to see “360 degrees” – meaning in every direction – with which to build new classroom practices.

Teachers, administrators and even parents should consider participation.

Reinventing ourselves

Piaget teaches us that knowledge is a consequence of experience. Therefore, any understanding of project-based learning or ability to implement it effectively must be grounded in personal experience. It is for this reason that all professional development pathways begin with an Invent to Learn workshop. Subsequent workshop days will build upon personal reflections and lessons learned from the Invent to Learn experience. Flexibility and sensitivity to the specific needs of participants is paramount.

Day One – Learning Learning

Join colleagues for a day of hard fun and problem solving — where computing meets tinkering and design. The workshop begins with the case for project-based learning, making, tinkering, and engineering. Next, we will discuss strategies for effective prompt-setting. You will view examples of children engaged in complex problem solving with new game-changing technologies and identify lessons for your own classroom practice. Powerful ideas from the Reggio Emilia Approach, breakthroughs in science education, and the global maker movement combine to create rich learning experiences.

“In the future, science assessments will not assess students’ understanding of core ideas separately from their abilities to use the practices of science and engineering. They will be assessed together, showing that students not only “know” science concepts; but also that they can use their understanding to investigate the natural world through the practices of science inquiry, or solve meaningful problems through the practices of engineering design.” Next Generation Science Standards (2013)

Participants will have the chance to tinker with a range of exciting new low- and high-tech construction materials that can really amplify the potential of your students. The day culminates in the planning of a classroom project based on the TMI (Think-Make-Improve) design model.

Fabrication with cardboard and found materials, squishy electronic circuits, wearable computing, Arduino, robotics, conductive paint, and computer programming are all on the menu.

This workshop is suitable for all grades and subject areas.

Day Two – Teaching

Day two begins with a period of reflection about the Invent to Learn workshop the day before, focusing on teaching and project-based learning topics, including:

  • Reflecting on the Invent to Learn workshop experience
  • Compare and contrast with your own learning experience
  • Compare and contrast with your current teaching practice

Project-based learning

  • What is a project?
  • Essential elements of effective PBL

Thematic curricula

  • Making connections
  • Meeting standards

Design technology and children’s engineering

  • The case for tinkering
  • Epistemological pluralism
  • Learning styles
  • Hands-on, minds-on
  • Iterative design methodology

Teacher roles in a modern classroom

  • Teacher as researcher
  • Identifying the big ideas of your subject area or grade level
  • Preparing learners for the “real world”
  • What does real world learning look like?
  • Lessons from the “Best Educational Ideas in the World”
  • What we can learn from Reggio Emilia, El Sistema and the “Maker” community?
  • Less Us, More Them
  • Shifting agency to learners
  • Creating independent learners

Classroom design to support PBL and hands-on learning

  • Physical environment
  • Centers, Makerspaces, and FabLabs
  • Scheduling

Tools, technology, materials

  • Computers as material
  • Digital technology
  • Programming
  • Choices and options

PBL 360 models teaching practices that put teachers at the center of their own learning, just like we want for students. This in turn empowers teachers to continue to work through the logistics of changing classroom practice as they develop ongoing fluency in tools, technologies, and pedagogy. Teachers who learn what modern learning “feels” like are better able to translate this into everyday practice, supported by ongoing professional development and sound policy.

Day Three – Transformation

The third day focuses on the details and specifics of implementing and sustaining PBL in individual classrooms and collaboratively with colleagues. Participants will lead with:

Program Planning

  • Curricular audit
  • Standards, grade levels
  • Assessment

Classroom Planning

  • Planning PBL for your classroom
  • Curricular projects vs. student-based inquiry
  • Creating effective project prompts

Identifying Change

  • The changing role of the teacher
  • Shaping the PBL-supportive learning environment
  • Does your school day support PBL?
  • Action plan formulation

Advocacy

  • Communicating a unifying vision with parents and the community
  • Adjusting expectations for students, parents, community, administrators, and colleagues
  • Creating alliances
  • Identifying resources

Modern learning embraces a vision of students becoming part of a solution-oriented future where their talents, skills, and passions are rewarded. The changes in curriculum must therefore be matched with a change in pedagogy that supports these overarching goals. Teachers need to understand design thinking, for example, not just as a checklist, but as a new way to shape the learning environment. It is no longer acceptable to simply teach students to use digital tools that make work flow more efficient, nor will it be possible to segregate “making” and “doing” into vocational, non-college preparatory classes.

PBL 360 will help teachers create learning environments that meet these goals with professional development that is innovative, supportive, and sustainable.

Constructive Technology Workshop Materials

Although constructive technology evolves continuously, the following is the range of hardware and software that can be combined with traditional craft materials and recycled items supplied by the client. The specialized materials will be furnished by Constructing Modern Knowledge, LLC. Specific items may vary.

Cardboard construction

  • Makedo
  • Rollobox
Robotics

  • LEGO WeDo
  • Hummingbird Robotics Kits
  • Pro-Bot
eTextiles/soft circuits/wearable computers

  • Lilypad Arduino Protosnap
  • Lilypad Arduino MP3
  • Flora
Computer Science, programming, and control

  • Scratch
  • Snap!
  • Turtle Art
  • Arduino IDE
  • Ardublocks
Microcontroller engineering and programming

  • Arduino Inventor’s Kits
  • Digital Sandbox
New ways to create electrical circuits

  • Circuit Stickers
  • Electronic papercraft
  • Circuit Scribe pens
  • Conductive paint
  • Squishy Circuits
Electronics and Internet of Things

  • MaKey MaKey
  • littleBits
Consumables

  • Coin cell batteries
  • Sewable battery holders
  • Foam sheets and shapes
  • Felt
  • Needles and thread
  • Conductive thread and tape
  • Fabric snaps

Additional costs may be incurred for transporting supplies and for consumable materials depending on the number of participants and workshop location(s). Groups of more than 20 participants may require an additional facilitator.

Invent To Learn books may be purchased at a discount to be used in conjunction with the workshop.


About Gary S. Stager, Ph.D.

Gary Stager, an internationally recognized educator, speaker and consultant, is the Executive Director of  Constructing Modern Knowledge. Since 1982, Gary has helped learners of all ages on six continents embrace the power of computers as intellectual laboratories and vehicles for self-expression. He led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools (1990), has designed online graduate school programs since the mid-90s, was a collaborator in the MIT Media Lab’s Future of Learning Group and a member of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s Learning Team.

When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.

Gary’s recent work has included teaching and mentoring some of Australia’s “most troubled” public schools, launching 1:1 computing in a Korean International School beginning in the first grade, media appearances in Peru and serving as a school S.T.E.M. Director. His advocacy on behalf of creativity, computing and children led to the creation of the Constructivist Consortium and the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. Gary is the co-author of Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, often cited as the “bible of the Maker Movement in schools”.

A popular speaker and school consultant, Dr. Stager has keynoted major conferences worldwide to help teachers see the potential of new technology to revolutionize education. Dr. Stager is also a contributor to The Huffington Post and a Senior S.T.E.M. and Education Consultant to leading school architecture firm, Fielding Nair International. Gary also works with teachers and students as Special Assistant to the Head of School for Innovation at The Willows Community School in Culver City, California.He has twice been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Melbourne’s Trinity College. Gary currently works as the Special Assistant to the Head of School for Innovation at The Willows Community School in Culver City, California.

Contact

Email learning@inventtolearn.com to inquire about costs and schedule for your customized workshop. We will work with you to create an experience that will change your school, district, or organization forever. Additional ongoing consulting, mentoring, or online learning services are available to meet individual needs.

Summer Institute

Schools should also consider sending personnel to the annual summer project-based learning institute, Constructing Modern Knowledge – (www.constructingmodernknowledge.com)